In an interview with Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the ECB, he discusses the upcoming stress test results for European banks. While details are not being released until Friday evening, de Guindos states that European banks are robust and resilient, despite the challenging adverse scenario and the difficulties faced during the pandemic. He emphasizes the need to closely monitor banks with below-average results. Regarding financial stability, de Guindos acknowledges concerns about the potential risks of maintaining a loose monetary policy, but highlights the ECB’s new strategy that integrates economic analysis, monetary and financial analysis, and financing stability considerations. He states that financial stability will play a more prominent role in the future. De Guindos addresses the issue of sovereign debt and emphasizes the importance of reducing public debt ratios, but cautions against premature actions and highlights the need for countries to find a credible path back to sound finances. He also discusses the need for a central fiscal authority at the European level and the importance of fiscal and financial convergence among euro area countries. De Guindos states that inflation in Germany slightly exceeding that in weaker euro area countries has been helpful and emphasizes the joint effort of monetary and fiscal policy during the pandemic. He discusses the ECB’s monetary policy stance and clarifies that interest rates will increase when inflation reaches the target of 2% well ahead of the end of the projection horizon and durably for the rest of the projection horizon. De Guindos also discusses the future of the pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) and the asset purchase programme (APP), highlighting the need for substantial monetary support for the economy and the flexibility of the PEPP. He mentions the possibility of transferring some of the flexibility of the PEPP to the APP. De Guindos addresses inflation concerns, stating that the situation in the euro area is different from the United States and expects a peak of around 3% in November. He emphasizes the need to monitor potential second-round effects and prevent temporary inflation from becoming structural inflation. Regarding cryptocurrencies, de Guindos refers to them as crypto-assets and states that there is no evidence yet that they threaten the stability of the system, but this may change in the future. He also mentions the creation of a digital euro as a separate subject that will complement banknotes and emphasizes the importance of financial stability considerations.